Women’s History Month may be over, but you can continue to celebrate the
stories and creativity of women past and present with Brooklyn’s own BVS Women’s
Choir at the group's spring concert, "Many Moons," which also marks the final
performance conducted by founder and artistic director Jessica Corbin. The
concert will take place on Saturday, April 13, 2019 at 7 PM at First Unitarian
Congregational Society, 119 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights. Tickets can
be purchased
here.

"Many Moons" invites us to look toward the cosmos and express gratitude for
the natural and spiritual worlds, and the constant yet changing presence of the
moon, which is both reliable and wondrous.

"I wanted to center the concert around Jocelyn Hagen’s stunning piece for
treble choir, two pianists and percussion, Moon Goddess," explained
Corbin. "I started exploring themes that had to do with the moon, but then the
phrase ‘many moons’ popped into my head one day, and I thought, 'yes, that’s
it!'"

In addition to Hagen, the program features work by composers Kala Pierson,
Gwyneth Walker and J. David Moore, with pieces including the traditional
spiritual My Lord, What a Morning and Moon Goddess, an
exaltation of the moon goddess by Enheduanna, a Sumerian priestess who lived in
2300 BC. The program reflects on divine forces and faith, as well as friendship,
love and music.

Women have long been associated with the moon, life and the passage of time,
making the concert’s theme appropriate for Corbin’s last as choir director after
18 years, having seen it through many moons, first as a small high school girl’s
choir at La Guardia High School to its current form as a multigenerational
women’s choir and nonprofit with over 40 members from across the city.

“I really cannot believe sometimes, what this choir has grown into since
starting it as an after-school choir all those years ago,” Corbin reflected,
noting its evolution from six singers to non-profit, performing in local
churches to off-Broadway stages and Lincoln Center, and touring the country to
recording CDs.

“But perhaps most importantly -- and not what I had necessarily anticipated
-- this choir has grown into a true community. Singing together each week,
traveling together, experiences from recording sessions to traveling together to
singing the words of Anne Frank to children of Holocaust survivors… all of
these have made BVS into what it is today, and what it will continue to thrive
as when a new director takes the helm,” Corbin said.

Part of this community’s strength lies in tapping its members diverse musical
talents, not just as singers and instrumentalists, but as composers. Over the
years, the choir has premiered the works of its own members and neighbors, as
with last year’s "Many Voices" project featuring poetry from women immigrants
across Brooklyn.

“One of my jobs is as a lyricist, but I never thought I could compose music,”
said member Karen Lurie. “Singing in the choir unlocked all the stuff I learned
studying music for ten years as a kid. When I played a draft of my first piece
for Jessica, she did not laugh in my face! She encouraged me to keep going, and
that piece premiered in 2017. Never underestimate not being laughed at as a
motivating factor!”

Lurie’s second composition, Don’t Be The Moon, is part of the
upcoming concert program and is a “tongue-in-cheek rejection” of the moon as the
long-standing symbol of womanhood, based on what we know about it now, thanks to
science. The result? A more empowering, feminist message for women in general,
and in particular for Jessica and the choir as we all move forward: Don't be the
moon…be the planet.

Join us in April to celebrate Jessica and her evolving but consistent
commitment to performing work written for women's voices, often by living women
composers.

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BVS Women’s Choir is a 45-member multigenerational group dedicated to
excellence in choral singing. Based in Brooklyn, NY, our mission is to enrich
our members and audiences by performing a diverse repertoire, with an emphasis
on female and contemporary choral composers. Throughout its 18-year history, BVS
Women’s Choir has become a musical community of its own.